Today we finished up migrating animals. I hope you enjoyed this and choose to delve deeper into the topic! If you do, here is a kit I made to help with organizing thoughts and writing about the topic.
You will also find a mini book, picture cards, read the room activity and labels.
The writing pages are also provided in just writing lines and just handwriting pages so your child can use it for other writing beyond the can, are, need piece.
Next week we will be working on hibernation and I will make a similar kit for those animals as well!
I hope you enjoyed these facts about butterflies. So, lets have fun with butterflies. Butterflies as symmetrical, meaning they are the same on both sides. So, I thought it would be a good time to build some symmetrical butterflies!
I used Lego blocks and pattern blocks, but you can use any resources you have at home, even just crayons and paper. Notice in the last picture, I only made half a butterfly and used a mirror to create the line of symmetry.
Often when we begin talking about migration the first thing you think of is birds. It is easy because we can actually see birds migrating. So… let’s talk about birds!
Not all birds migrate for the winter. Here are some of the more well known migrating birds: geese, robins, hummingbirds, bluebirds, red winged blackbirds, doves and many more.
Let’s get outside. Can you find some birds flying in the sky? Are the foraging for foods? Are they flying in a group or alone? What types of birds do you see?
Have you researched what birds live in your areas? What ones migrate through your area?
In my backyard we have both birds that live here permanently and those that migrate through both in the spring and the fall. For migrating birds we see: hummingbirds, orioles, red winged blackbirds, geese, doves, sparrows and many more. We also have cardinals, blue jays, tufted titmouse, goldfinch, woodpeckers and more.
What does this mean? Feed the birds…even if you don’t have tuppence for a bag!
Today we will focus on two sea animals who migrate… whales and manatees. I have given you info on whales and manatees separately in case you want to do one or do it on separate days.
Whales spend their summers by the poles and the migrate to warmer waters near the equator for the winter. A large reason for this migration is to have their young in the warmer waters since babies are born with less blubber and would not survive the cold waters near the poles.
Whales do not eat during their migration and what they eat depends on the type of whale. There are two large categories of whales toothed whales, which have teeth (which include the beluga, narwhal, dolphins and other porpoise). These whales are predators and eat other animals. The other group of whales are baleen whales (including blue, humpback and gray whales). These whale eat by sifting out prey in the waters they swim.
Baleen whales are larger and most migrate long distances to protect their new calves. Such as these migration paths below:
Gray whales, which migrate between Alaska and Russia and Baja California
North Atlantic right whales, which appear to move between cold waters off the Northeastern US and Canada to waters off South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
Humpback whales, which move between northern feeding grounds and southern breeding grounds.
Blue whales. In the Pacific, blue whales migrate from California to Mexico and Costa Rica.
Manatees are gentle marine mammals. They cannot survive in waters below 60F (16C) and barely tolerate temperatures below 68F (20C).
In the summers Florida Manatees, a subread of the West Indian Manatee, can be typically be found from the coast off Virginia and then around Florida and over to Texas. But in the winter months they can only be found off the coast of Florida. They need to move inland towards more natural springs to find warmer waters and food.
So why do manatees migrate? Even though they weight nearly 1/2 a ton, they do not have much body fat. So they are unable to withstand the temperature changes in the water during the winter. Manatees are herbivores who munch on sea grass and can move between fresh and salt water areas. They move slowly and spend half the day sleeping.
This week we will focus on the topic of migration. So…. what is migration? Migration is when animals move from one place to another to survive. This is done to find the resources needed to survive (food, water, shelter, and space). Check out this and more facts here.
Amazing Animal Migrations by Land, Air and Sea by Nat Geo Wild. You will need to read this to your children, but there is fantastic images of desert elephants of Africa, black-browed albatrosses, and great white sharks migrating.
Migrations: Big Animal Trips from SciShow Kids explains the concept of migration and then shares the migration maps of some of the furthest traveling animals by land, sea and sky.
Animal Migration: Move It from Science Trek explains migration, discusses various animals that migrate and why.
Today we will make a can, are, need chart for animals that migrate. Create a chart and have your child illustrate or dictate the things that migrating animals can, are and need. Such as migrating animals can travel long distances. Migrating animals are moving to meet their basic needs. Migrating animals need to find sources of food. (or in simpler terms… Migrating animals can walk, fly, swim, move etc…. Migrating animals are deer, whale, birds etc.. Migrating animals need food, water, shelter, etc…)
My Day in Pre-K 